KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
Earlier this year, Sony found itself in hot water after announcing plans to enforce PSN accounts to access PC games like Helldivers 2. This led to PlayStation PC titles being delisted from over 150 countries and the community at large voiced their issues with this. While PSN accounts will no longer be required to play Helldivers 2, Sony is still pushing ahead with this plan for future PlayStation PC releases, starting with God of War: Ragnarök and Until Dawn Remake.
Despite both being single-player games with no multiplayer functionality, the upcoming PC releases of Until Dawn and God of War: Ragnarok will require a PSN account to play. This also means that these games will not be listed for sale on Steam in all of the same countries that were recently blocked from buying Helldivers 2. Despite Arrowhead voicing its desire to have the game available everywhere, Sony seems to have a new policy in place to not sell its games in countries where PSN is unavailable, shrinking its market reach by quite a bit, despite seeing clear benefits from the fast global sales of Helldivers 2, which reached 12 million sales in just a handful of weeks.
Since God of War: Ragnarök and Until Dawn don't have multiplayer, what are the benefits of linking a PSN account? Well, doing so will grant access to the PlayStation Overlay, which debuted with the PC version of Ghost of Tsushima earlier this month. This overlay gives you access to PlayStation features, like your friends list and Trophies (Achievements).
This seems to be working hand in hand with Sony's odd strategy to try and ‘upsell' PC gamers on a console. The company hopes that by selling its biggest games on PC, customers will consider also buying a PlayStation to play sequels earlier than they otherwise would. If the PC games all require a PSN account, you'll already have a friends list and an account with playtime/trophies when you do switch.
The problem with this idea is that PC gamers are notoriously patient. One look at the sales boost Epic Games Store exclusives received after landing on Steam should be enough to prove that.
KitGuru Says: What do you think of Sony's recent changes to its PC strategy?
